Seaman's success secret: 'Very robust' strategic planning

Thursday

Feb 25, 2010 at 4:08 AM

By BOBBY WARREN

Staff Writer

WOOSTER -- By the end of the first quarter in fiscal year 2009, the president and chief executive officer of Seaman Corp. recognized his company would not escape the impact of the downturn in the economy.

The company's fiscal year begins in October and by December 2008, "the whole financial crisis was well under way, and we were trying to understand how will it impact us and how long will it impact us," CEO Richard N. Seaman said.

Seaman Corp. has three lines of business: Traditional and industrial fabrics used for truck tarps, geomembranes and architectural structures; high-performance, coated fabrics used for military applications like above-ground, flexible fuel tanks and tents; and Fiber-Tite, single-ply roofing materials.

The company has a "very robust" strategic planning process, which focuses management's attention on the economy, market opportunities and the competitive landscape. They are looking out three to five years, Seaman said.

As 2009 began, Seaman said he and the management team began to see the assumptions made for the year were not going to hold true, so they monitored closely the marketplace, the manufacturer's lines of business and sales results in January, February and March.

"Then we began to evaluate what we had to do to respond to those challenges," Seaman said. "We realized (the downturn) would have a significant impact, ... and when we came out, it would be a different world than when we went into it."

The challenge for the management team was not simply a matter of instituting across-the-board cut and waiting for a rebound, Seaman said.

"Our challenge is to understand what the new economy would like and how to best structure ourselves to take advantage of that," Seaman said.

All of the efforts in strategic planning and research and development helped the company prevail during the economic storm.

Seaman Corp. was able to weather the economic crisis much better than most due to a combination of factors, said Robert Walton, a director of the company.

It was able to do so because of years of keeping the Seaman associates informed about the business before the crisis and having a strategic planning approach where contingency planning is always a top consideration, Walton said. The company was able to capture opportunities on the top end and to adapt quickly as economic pressures emerge, he said.

Seaman Corp. officials were able to make cost adjustments in the organization that did not adversely impact the investments made. It had invested $30 million over the past seven years upgrading the technology and expanding its capacity at its plants in Wooster and Bristol, Tenn.

So, leaders wrestled with how to restructure in a way the manufacturer would be in a position to be profitable and productive at a lower level of revenues while at the same time maintaining its objectives to come out quicker and stronger.

Despite a significant drop in revenue for 2009 compared to 2008, which was a record-breaking year for the company, the fourth quarter of the year was equal to the fourth quarter of 2008, Seaman said.

Walton said Seaman and Jim Dye, chief operating officer, have always been able to appropriately anticipate the economic changes in the market by staying very close to the customers and markets and to appropriately compensate, but not overcompensate.

Rod Crider, president of the Wayne Economic Development Council, said there is impressive leadership at the company. They continue to look at new products and tweaking existing lines to add value or make improvements.

Seaman said there are several chemists and process engineers working on new liquid and dry compounds, and every time they modify a product it is put through an advanced weatherization system in order to determine how it will hold up.

The company also conducts quality inspections on every 100 yards of fabric it sends out. Additionally, a sample also is saved and tagged so if there is a problem in the field, workers can go back, retrieve the sample and see why there was a breakdown in performance.

"Dick is the kind of guy who is always looking ahead at what is going to be next in the industry," Crider said.

"He's not a manager; he's a leader ... a visionary," said Bala Venkataraman, a former Seaman Corp. employee who is now on the board of directors. "With his strategic thinking and strategic implementation he has been able to lead the company ahead of the competition. And, he has a very competent board to help him with that."

Venkataraman also said Seaman is a big risk taker, preferring to chart a new course for the company rather than taking it easy and being content, which lead to the $30 million in investment over the past seven years.

Seaman said he likes to stay sharp and on top of things, which is why he attends a weeklong event for CEOs at Harvard University each year and attends a similar event in Washington, D.C., annually.

Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or bwarren@the-daily-record.com. He's robwar0100 on Twitter.

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